“RuPaul’s Drag Race” Winner Yvie Oddly Calls Out Producers For Being “Culture Thieves” And For Taking A Year To Pay Her Winnings
Drag queen Yvie Oddly won the eleventh season of RuPaul’s Drag Race and later competed in the all-winners season of Drag Race All Stars. She’s best known for her lip-synching skills, freaky fashions, and bendy dance moves (she has Hypermobility Ehlers-Danlos syndrome). Now, Yvie has something to say. And she’s gonna say it! The 29-year-old took to Twitter to call out Drag Race producers for being “capitalist culture thieves” who take advantage of the “sleep-deprived, depressed, and DRASTICALLY underpaid” contestants. Yvie also reveals that it took over a year for her to get her $100,000 prize. RuPaul has yet to address these accusations, but if he does, he’ll likely blame that shit on Yvie’s “inner saboteur”.
Out reports that Yvie began tweeting about Drag Race while catching up on the current season of All Stars. She writes that she has “two thoughts.” The first is that the queens are “remarkable” and are the “lifeblood” of what makes the show great:
1. These queens are remarkable!
The drag artists are and have ALWAYS been the lifeblood of what makes this franchise great https://t.co/dVpmBdohsu— Yvie Oddly (blue checkmark) (@OddlyYvie) May 29, 2023
She adds:
“All the things we love: the looks, the catchphrases, the memes, the drama,” Oddly writes. “It all comes from the queens.” And that can not be denied. While the producers certainly do invaluable work in casting, and even sometimes nudging or positioning the performers, it’s really up to the performers to do the things. As RuPaul said in that shady “Blame It On the Edit” track, it’s ultimately the competitors saying the things that are only being edited in or out of the final cuts.
Thought #2: fuck the producers:
They fuck with real people’s lives, career opportunities, and health. They drive themselves home in their luxury cars when their contestants are sleep-deprived, depressed, and DRASTICALLY underpaid for their contributions to the cultural phenomenon
— Yvie Oddly (blue checkmark) (@OddlyYvie) May 29, 2023
Yvie adds:
“Then they tell themselves they’re good people for showcasing queer content and creating opportunities for us while ignoring the irreparable damage they cause, and creating a chokehold monopoly on how drag artists can succeed.”
Then, the bit about not getting paid on time:
P.S. they took over a year to pay me my winnings because they conveniently kept forgetting they owed me 100k 🖕🏽
— Yvie Oddly (blue checkmark) (@OddlyYvie) May 29, 2023
Yvie goes on to say that she’s thankful for the series, and she doesn’t regret milking the system. But she wants to see a future that includes everyone (including drag kings and the trans contestants who were barred for years):
One that isn’t solely controlled by the kinds of people who would preach “we’re all born naked and the rest is drag” before condemning someone for their “boy body” (in 2023!) all while cashing in on their catchphrases and trauma.
— Yvie Oddly (blue checkmark) (@OddlyYvie) May 30, 2023
Pop Crave also screenshat Yvie’s tweets:
#DragRace winner Yvie Oddly calls out producers for being “capitalist culture thieves,” says it took “over a year” to receive her grand prize money:
“They drive themselves home in their luxury cars when their contestants are sleep-deprived, depressed, and DRASTICALLY underpaid,” pic.twitter.com/i7iegrKzX6
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) May 30, 2023
This isn’t the first time Yvie’s criticized her Drag Race experience. After competing on All Stars 7 last year, she took to social media to share her grievances:
She described the entire experience as “pretty gruesome from the start” and took issue with production reducing her to “some goofy big-dicked mascot, bravely laughing through my chronic illness, happy to be along for the ride.” Suffice it to say, she was displeased with her edit. But now, she’s taking the producers to task for their overall handling of the massively successful series.
Yvie also isn’t the first Drag Race contestant to shit-talk RuPaul and the show’s production company, World of Wonder (see: Willam, Pearl, Phi Phi O’Hara). I believe every damn word they say, and the reason more queens don’t come out and expose the show is because… they need the show. But it sounds like Yvie is over that phase of her life, especially cuz she finally got her hands on that $100k. Sorry, not sorry, RuPaul!
Pic: Roger Wong/INSTARimages/Cover Images